5 (b.b.) Redi's Experiment

Life Comes From Life: Living things arise from living things through reproduction. It took hundreds of years of experiments to convince people that Life Comes From Life.

Redi’s Experiment: Redi designed a controlled experiment to show that flies do not arise from decaying meat. In a controlled experiment, a scientist carries out two tests that are identical in every respect except for one factor. The one factor that a scientist changes is called the manipulated variable.

In Redi’s experiment, the manipulated variable was whether or not the jar was covered. Flies were able to enter the uncovered jar and lay their eggs on the meat inside. These eggs hatched into maggots, which developed into new flies. The flies could not enter the covered jar, however. Therefore, no maggots formed on the meat in the covered jar. Through his experiment, Redi was able to conclude that rotting meat does not produce flies.